They can’t talk to players. They can’t talk to player agents. They can’t even talk to their literary agents. To borrow a line from the Five Man Electrical Band’s 1970s classic “Signs,” “You ain’t supposed to be here.”

But they can talk to other teams. But they can trade draft picks.

Trade the fourth pick.

It sounds like there is going to be no consensus quarterback there at No. 4. In that case, Trade the pick. Heck, give it away if you have to. Unload it before the flame gets any lower. OK, OK, just make sure you get a fourth-rounder. But don’t pick hairs, just trade.

There are only two top 10 QBs out there. Arizona wants a QB at 5? San Fran wants one at No. 7? Tennessee at 8? Washington at 10?

Trade the pick.

Wage scale or no wage scale, the fourth pick is still going to be a huge number. There still may be some room for the first-rounder to negotiate, so if there is one training camp the rookie quarterback would seem to have the leverage in contract talks, it’s this one. And there are some tough agents at the top.

Tom Condon’s group represents Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert and Georgia receiver A.J. Green, and those have proven to be tough negotiations for the Bengals. In ’05, No. 1 pick David Pollack held out for three weeks. A quarterback holdout like that (or any position, really,) in what looks to be a truncated offseason would be devastating.

See Smith, Akili, 1999.

The lower the pick, the less chance of a stalemate.

Trade the pick.

The draft selection points would no doubt give you at least a third-rounder and maybe even a second, depending how far they went down in the first. But the fourth pick is so unattractive, take the fourth-rounder if you have to.

Don’t get me wrong. You’ll get a very talented position player at No. 4. But in this draft, which is deep but lacks the marquee players, the difference between what you get at Nos. 4 or 8 or 10 or even 15 and 16, home of Jacksonville and Oakland, respectively, (two other teams that can use a QB), is looking to be pretty small.

(The Jags head coach and OC, along with the Titans head coach, GM and OC were on hand for Gabbert’s workout Thursday.)

Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones and Nebraska cornerback Prince Amukamara aren’t rated that far behind Green and LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson. Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley could be hanging around and is he that far off Alabama’s Marcell Dareus? And if you go down far enough, you’ll be staring at the best running back in the draft in Alabama’s Mark Ingram.

Trade the pick.

But the reason(s) to do it is to get the extra pick or picks. This draft is supposed to be stocked in rounds three through five, great places to get a safety, guard, running back, or blocking tight end.

Trade the pick.

And the longer you wait the better. Get through the Pro Days, the private workouts, the team visits, and it’s just like a soap opera any day of the week. Somebody is going to fall in love with one of those top five guys.